My Mother, the Trickster

 
My mother. Amy, was a trickster. 
When I was a freshman in college, I had a part time job, but I was always looking for opportunities to make a little extra cash. On a day that I had come home from school, my mother offered to give me $50, if I washed all the windows, inside and out. (That would be like paying me $500 today).
“I found some extra money and I’m feeling generous,” she said.
I got a bucket, some soap and water and some newspapers. I was thrilled that my mother was offering me so much. I made sure that there wasn’t a smudge on any window. They were sparkling clean. I was proud of the job I had done.
After I put all the cleaning stuff away, I went to my mother told her I was done. She beamed a smile and handed me an envelope that had been opened. I removed the contents. It was my last paycheck and pay stub from my former employer, Fiddler’s Three restaurant. The amount was $50. I glared at my mother. “You tricked me. That’s not fair.”

She gave me her impish smile. “Why are you upset? I told you I would give you $50 and I did.”

“But that $50 was already mine.”
“I never said where the $50 came from. I only said that I found some extra money.” And then she laughed.

“You cheated me into washing the windows!” I whined.

“You were happy washing the windows,” she said. "And you are proud of the good job you did."
“That’s when I thought you were paying me fifty dollars.”

“But you have $50 that you didn’t have before you did the windows.”

I knew I wasn’t going to win and I wasn’t going to get any more money. I hated admitting that she was right. I was happy washing the windows and proud of the good job I had done.

2018 Wish

Xmas in Palo Cedro

Xmas in Palo Cedro, California

 Denise at Xmas Sunrise

Crows at Xmas Sunrise

 Grass at Xmas Sunrise

You are so beautiful

V Kali asked us to choose one of three songs and use the title of that song as the first line of the poem we were asked to write. I chose You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker. I wrote the following poem for Denise.

You are so beautiful.

Your beauty captured me.

Tied my hands around your waist.

Bound my heart with so much haste

That I could only see your beautiful face.

And that is all I wanted to see

In front of me,

From now until always.

And then you teased,

And laughed, and sang your song

Before my ship sailed away,

And I was gone.

I longed for you

And me to be together.

I was bold

To Dream

That we’d grow old

Together.

All because

You are so beautiful to me.

43 Years

 

I'm soooo lucky.

Denise and I have been happily

married for 43.

It doesn't seem that long to me.

And yes, it really has been 43

Amazing years together.

The secret is quite simple

And obvious as a dimple

On a happy, smiley face.

We play.

And play

And play.

Yes, there is work to be done.

That we won't deny.

We get confused.

Our feelings get bruised.

We are very human.

She is part of me.

Whatever I do to her

I do to me

Because she

Is a part of the self

That makes us we.

We are not the same.

We differ in points of view.

We complete the me and you

Into a workable we.

I love that she said yes to me.

43 years ago.

43 now. Maybe 43 to go.